Rising Star

Celebrity personalities, who reign over much of our cultural landscape, owe their fame not to deeds but the ability to project a distinct personal image, an icon of the self. Author Rhonda Garelick locates a prototype of the star personality in the dandies and aesthete literary figures of the 19th century, such as Beau Brummel and Oscar Wilde, comparing them with Prince, Madonna, Jackie O. and other dandy-like figures of today. 19 photos.